Fast, accurate advertising and entertainment payroll to talent, crew and vendors while ensuring compliance.

XR works across advertising and entertainment to provide payroll solutions and compliance for brands, agencies and studios–managing critical elements behind the scenes for any production.
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As the employer of record across different production types and sizes, we distribute over a billion dollars in payments annually and stay on top of the complexities across employment (union and non-union), tax, labor relations, benefits, insurance and talent rights, so you can focus on moving creativity forward.

Advertising &
Commercial Payroll

We know the complex world of payments and have helped thousands of brands pay talent, crew and vendors–seamlessly and accurately–from the actors in front of the camera to the lighting crew on set.
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As the largest payroll provider for advertisers, we centralize essential data–uniting usage, rights, contract information and licensing agreements to effectively automate onboarding, manage payments and minimize risk.

Easy Onboarding From Anywhere

Digital onboarding and time entry streamlines production workflows, eliminates paperwork and makes hiring easier and more efficient than ever before.

Holding Fee Notices for Any Usage

Manage holding fees—for TV, Internet, new media, cinema use and more—with automated expiration notices to review costs, notify stakeholders and elect to hold or release.

Session and Completion Reports

Answer any question about production or licensing in seconds with instant access to ad creatives—alongside contract, license and commercial history information—and much more.

Critical Talent & Rights Usage

Connect and monitor talent payments and rights to achieve effective compliance and minimize fines, penalties and renegotiations—all in real-time.

Easy Access to Resources

Access the tax forms, contracts, union agreements and other important documents with a simple click.

Estimate Budgets in Real Time

Seamlessly create, edit and share talent and rights payment estimates to track status and ensure you are within budget.

Dashboard showing financial stats with filters for Advertiser, Brand, Agency, Commercial ID, and Talent Manager. Invoice Total: $8,729,239,237, Wages: $6,914,153,421. Below is a bar chart titled ‘Payments Per Month By Type,’ showing data from Jan 2015 to Jan 2017.
Dashboard with pie chart titled ‘Payment Categories By Total Payment Amount (USD)’ for fees. Below is a table titled ‘Top 20 Commercials By Total Payment Amount (USD),’ listing Advertiser, Brand, and Commercial ID
Talent & Rights Calendar showing timelines for media categories like Holding Fee/Session, Internet, Cable, and Stock Music from March to June. Below are sections for Related Creative/Versions and Talent Reports with ISCI/AD-IDs and titles like ‘I Am A Tree’ in different versions and lengths.
Dashboard showing a horizontal bar chart titled ‘Utilization Timeline By Country,’ with bars representing asset utilization duration for countries such as India, Australia (366 days), Brazil, United States (491 days), Canada, and France. Below the chart is a table titled ‘Country Summary Asset Utilization,’ listing Country Name, Total Downloaded Assets, and Proportion % of All Assets with entries such as France (13,880), United Kingdom (9,935), and Czech Republic (9,448).
Approvals interface showing pending items. Table includes Name, Department, and Compensation Details: William Hahn (Audio). Lists studio and distant location rates. Navigation controls and filters at the top
Manage Offers interface showing pending payees for a demo project. Table includes Name, Project, and Department: Phillip Hill (Audio), Jenn Davis (Post), etc. Navigation controls and filters at the top

Entertainment Payroll

Enhance entertainment payroll operations for Film and TV productions of any type and size.

With proven success and experience in entertainment payroll processing and compliance, XR’s team of experts and digital solutions streamline compliant onboarding and accurate, on-time payments for every unique entertainment production.

Dashboard showing financial stats with filters for Advertiser, Brand, Agency, Commercial ID, and Talent Manager. Invoice Total: $8,729,239,237, Wages: $6,914,153,421. Below is a bar chart titled ‘Payments Per Month By Type,’ showing data from Jan 2015 to Jan 2017.
Screenshot of a digital timecard interface showing project details, work hours, meal breaks, and options to submit or copy previous day’s entries.”
Screenshot of an interface showing allowances and mileage, pay breakdown, and comments section, with details such as insurance code, miles, rate, taxable, and pay descriptions with days worked.
Screenshot of a ‘Select to Pay’ interface showing a list of vendors with bank selection, payment due date, batch, vendor names, and invoice numbers, with checkboxes to select items for payment.
Screenshot of an interface displaying a timeline of fees and sessions, with sections for related creative versions and talent reports, including ISCI/AD-ID and titles.
Screenshot of an entertainment residuals interface showing a table with rates and payments for foreign regions across multiple episodes and years.
Maximize Creative Impact
Drive growth, attract audiences and achieve relevance, resonance and results with creative intelligence
Engage Audiences Everywhere
Reach audiences on any screen, in any market by leveraging the breadth and depth of XR’s global distribution network
Gain Creative Clarity and Control
Centralize content assets, media distribution and rights information for greater creative control
Simple, Accurate Payroll
Distribute accurate production payments for everyone with ease–from talent to crew and vendors
Account for Every Production Cost
Orchestrate on-budget productions with the financial clarity and expert guidance you need to achieve your creative goals
Maximize Creative Impact
Drive growth, attract audiences and achieve relevance, resonance and results with creative intelligence
Engage Audiences Everywhere
Reach audiences on any screen, in any market by leveraging the breadth and depth of XR’s global distribution network
Gain Creative Clarity and Control
Centralize content assets, media distribution and rights information for greater creative control
Simple, Accurate Payroll
Distribute accurate production payments for everyone with ease–from talent to crew and vendors
Account for Every Production Cost
Orchestrate on-budget productions with the financial clarity and expert guidance you need to achieve your creative goals
Easy Onboarding From Anywhere

Fully-digital onboarding eliminates paperwork, making it fast and easy to capture employee information, complete project, federal, and state forms and collect signatures electronically at any time, anywhere.

Built-in Rules Engine

Built-in union rules and automated compliance tools effectively account for labor and tax law regulatory requirements, ensuring payroll is processed accurately.

On-Demand Access

Mobile time entry is enabled for on-demand access and easy hours-to-gross calculations, with bulk offer and approval capabilities that simplify hiring union and non-union workers quickly from any location.

Automated Entertainment Payment Tools

Automated compliance tools, like wage notices and sick leave, are built-in alongside calculation of forced calls, meal penalties, overtime, etc. to ensure accurate payments.

Production Transparency

Complete production payroll reporting and history are available, facilitating complete visibility and smooth auditing processes.

Residuals: Modern, Fast & Fully Automated

XR’s advanced residuals processing system enables fast turnaround times (ready in days, not months). Teams also benefit from greater control with a pre-production estimations and forecasting tool and the first residuals dashboard for access to cast lists and real-time reporting.

Essential Expertise.
Effective Compliance.
Total Confidence.

Labor Relations

Gain expert guidance on Collective Bargaining Agreements and Local and State Labor Laws for all unions and guilds, as well as any type of project. We ensure payments and reporting to relevant unions, guilds and trusts are on time and accurate.

Health Services

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) poses complex challenges. XR provides guidance to ensure our customers stay in compliance and avoid potential fines. We help navigate the complexities with robust analytics, sophisticated reporting and expert counsel.

Compliance Management

We provide peace of mind when handling the critical work necessary to comply with relevant legal requirements and regulations – including workers’ compensation insurance, handling unemployment claims, minor trusts and issuing year-end W-2 wage statements.

Production Incentives

Our expertise can help connect budgets with the constantly changing landscape of production incentives. We track the qualifying costs and produce all necessary reports for filing tax credits/rebates.

Learn more

Global Technology Platform & Consultancy In One

XR’s scaled platform is backed by built-in expertise and professional services, using proven strategies to guide you through key stages of the creative lifecycle.

Industry Expertise

Our trusted advisors come with years of experience in entertainment, advertising and productions, covering payroll and residuals, tax incentives, labor relations, healthcare compliance and much more, including:

  • Federal, State and Local Tax Reporting and Remittance 
  • Guild Reporting and Pension, Health, and Welfare Remittance 
  • Workers' Compensation Coverage 
  • Administration of Unemployment Claims 
  • Annual (Year-End) W2 and 1099 Distribution
Reporting & Insight

Advertising and entertainment payroll reporting is accessible on demand, making it seamless to gain insight when you need it. Reporting includes production summaries, hiring reports, payroll logs, employee starts, labor costs, project accrual and allowance cap reports, plus more.

Payee Portal

On demand access to a centralized platform for important resources and employee documents with visibility into payment history, status, etc.

Explore the XR Platform

Production Accounting

Production-first accounting software that delivers financial clarity, cost control and optimized workflows for every project.

Professional & Creative Services

Professional and creative services with expertise in business affairs, ready to provide support at every step–from ideation to execution and analysis.

Productions Simplified

On schedule, on budget and compliant productions for agencies, advertisers and entertainment studios, backed by people and technology you can trust.